Howling at the moon
The day before rodeo vacation is always special for Kino primary students because it’s the day of the rodeo cookout. Students stay at school until seven o’clock. Under the palo verde trees as the sun goes down they do a little square dancing and a little roping, and roast marshmallow over the bonfire. This year they also made quesadillas, ate chips and salsa, and drank some sarsaparilla. After listening to stories in the twilight, they traditionally end the night howling at the moon. 
Rodeo inspires two weeks’ worth of primary Language Arts activities before the cook out. Mary Jane says,
“We started this year by reading western stories, like The Cactus Hotel. We took a field trip to Old Tucson, and then wrote about our experiences in our journals. Our music teacher, Lisa Otey, sang western songs with us. We learned about western folklore, clothing, customs, and food.”
Libby has a collection of hats, chaps, vests, scarfs, serapes, and boots so everyone can dress up in character.
If we needed to list the academic areas touched on by these two weeks, it would go on and on: listening to and reading stories, writing in journals, lots of drawing, dancing, music, cooking, history, folklore, the desert ecology, local heritage and other cultures. But there are also ineffable and unmeasurable lessons: relating, cooperating, taking turns, enjoying each other’s company, a firmer sense of the world and one’s surroundings, a sense that school is not only a welcoming place, but a magical one as well.
As Kolton says, “This is my favorite night of the whole year.”
